Watching the line rather than clearing it
Each ant that walks the same path strengthens the scent trail for the next, which is why a line only seems busier the longer it's left. A trail wiped from the worktop is quickly re-laid; the useful step is watching where it actually leads.
Where it usually enters the kitchen
A warm, still time of day, when activity peaks, is best for watching the line head away from the food undisturbed - the same pattern holds near Peckham, where victorian terraces around Rye Lane sit alongside the large ex-council blocks near the old. In Southwark's terraces, common entry points include the patio door edge, a gap under the kitchen units, or the threshold of the back door.
Nunhead and Dulwich's back gardens
The terraced houses around Nunhead, rising towards the cemetery and the green, and the larger gardens near Dulwich, both give ants a warm, well-established route from a patio edge straight through to the kitchen. A nest here is often settled under the joints of old paving rather than anywhere near the house itself.
What to leave alone for now
- Spraying the trail, which kills the foragers and leaves the colony intact
- Pouring boiling water into paving, which can crack old slabs without reaching the queen
- Sealing the entry gap before the colony itself has been dealt with
- Scattering household powders along the trail, which can split a colony into several smaller ones
Closing the way in afterwards
With the colony dealt with, go back and close only the gap the ants were actually using, a threshold, pipe hole, or crack in old mortar, whether that's near Nunhead, where victorian terraces on the rising ground around the cemetery and the green, or elsewhere in the borough. Weep holes and air bricks should stay clear, sealing them shut only traps moisture inside the wall, just as near Bermondsey, where former warehouses converted to flats sit among Victorian terraces close to the river.
Booking ant control in Southwark
Ant control in Southwark runs £190 for a flat and £220 for a house, and because around Walworth, where terraced streets and postwar estates close to the Walworth Road shops, it helps to say roughly whereabouts in the garden the nest might be when you book ant control, with the rest on the Southwark ant control page.
